The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s midweek likes and dislikes for Round 11 of the AFL season
Collingwood is suffering under a mountain of injuries but a shining light has emerged in the form of Darcy Cameron and his form leaves a huge question mark over Mason Cox, Mark Robinson writes. See Robbo’s Likes and dislikes.
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‘Two men enter, one man leaves’ was the famous catchcry from eighties flick Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and that’s exactly what is looming at Collingwood.
Darcy Cameron’s rich vein of form has enabled him to secure a key forward role, but it also threatens to bring down the curtain on a struggling Magpie.
Another struggler is high-profile St Kilda recruit Brad Hill. Is his form off the boil or do the Saints need to use him better?
Then there’s the long-suffering Bombers fans being asked by the club to be patient yet again. The Dons didn’t go under against the Gold Coast Suns, but when does the patience run out?
SCROLL DOWN FOR MARK ROBINSON’S LIKES AND DISLIKES
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LIKES
1 THE BEGINNING AND THE END?
There’s two stories here. One is the form of Darcy Cameron. The other is that the form of Darcy Cameron means the career of Mason Cox might be over.
Cox has played four games this season and has not played since Round 6. In those four games, Cox took nine marks. Cameron took nine marks against the Crows on Tuesday night.
This is not a selection dilemma for Nathan Buckley because Cameron has secured the key forward role and the plus is he’s a capable big body to support ruckman Brodie Grundy.
Cox is understood to have a trigger in his contract which would see him play in 2021, but that has to be looking doubtful. Cameron is 25 and on Tuesday played his fifth game for the Pies. Of his nine marks, five were contested. He is mobile, is better at evaluating marking contests than Cox and, most of all, he clunks the ball.
Cox has been a wonderful story, but now Cameron is writing his own story.
2 SUNS SING A NICE BALLARD
Not all that shines at the Suns are first-round draftees.
Ben King had his moments and kicked a remarkable goal for a 202cm forward, a gather, a shrug, a sidestep, a sprint and he kicked the goal. He missed another with two minutes to play and then Izak Rankine fell short with another shot at goal.
But it’s up the other end where the Suns also have a rising star. He is 21-year-old Charlie Ballard. He staved off a surging Essendon, taking seven intercept marks, which was the equal most this season.
My God, they are going to be a good team for a long time.
3 CATS’ UNSTOPPABLE STOPPER
Geelong defender Mark O’Connor played on St Kilda’s Dan Butler (four disposals). His other wins this season are over Charlie Cameron (one goal), Luke Breust (one goal), Alex Sexton (one goal) and Liam Ryan (one goal). These wins followed a number of scalps in last year’s finals series — Dan Rioli (goalless), Jamie Cripps (goalless) and Callum Brown (goalless). In 11 games this year, he has conceded just nine goals.
He’s an all-round defender who is a) accountable and b) makes safe decisions by foot, which is symbolic of how coach Chris Scott has his team playing.
Cats’ folk will tell you the Irishman has been a very good player for 18 months. The rest of the world has now taken notice.
4 DON’T PUT ROUND PEG IN A SQUARE HOLE
In 2019, Fremantle’s David Mundy was dispatched, in part, to the forward line so the Dockers could get more midfield time into Adam Cerra and Andrew Brayshaw, with Nathan Fyfe as their general around the stoppages.
This season, in Rounds 1-4, Mundy played 25/75 midfield/forward. When Fyfe injured himself in Round 4, Mundy was summoned back to full-time in the midfield. From Rounds 5-11, he played 97/3 midfield/forward.
And now Fyfe is back, Mundy has kept his midfield role, and has been huge with the kids. He is more than capable as a forward, but he’s a born-and-bred, hard-nosed mid and his renaissance in that position has been equally as important as the development of Cerra and Brayshaw.
DISLIKES
1 COMMON THEME BY WOOSHER
Patience is not a virtue.
This from Scooter on Twitter: In October 2015, the Bombers publicly asked for patience from fans as they embarked on a three-year plan. In April 2018, they publicly asked for patience again. In March 2019, same again, please have patience. And this week? Another plea for patience from coach John Worsfold.
For me it’s all about injuries, and game plans and rebuilds. It’s now 2020 and after 10 games, the Bombers are five wins, four losses and the draw on Wednesday night. They dominated possession (318-247) and second-half inside-50s (29-18). In the second half they kicked 7.4 to 4.3. You know what, have patience Bombers fans, one day they will put it all together.
2 WHAT TO DO WITH THE ‘STAR’ WINGMAN?
Saints coach Brett Ratten gave Brad Hill an out. Hill was running hard and his teammates weren’t giving him enough ball, Ratten said. There’s merit in that argument. The other argument might be Hill is running to the wrong spots and is trying to find cheap possessions.
How about Hill not put his coach in that situation, finding an excuse, and how about Hill simply finding more of the ball. No excuse football. It’s not as if Hill is in a bad side, either. He’s played 11 games, and in five of those games he’s returned fewer than 15 possessions.
He is rated below average for ranking points (58), disposals (14.6), marks (2.8) is average for metres gained (239) and score involvement (3.2). And he’s going at a tick over one tackle per game. That reads as a pretty average season.
They can’t move him back because Ben Paton, Nick Coffield and Hunter Clark have been solid, and Nick Hind, Dan Butler, Dean Kent and Jack Lonie have been solid as the small forwards. The pressure is clearly on the big-name recruit.
3 HAS JAEGER BOMBED?
He arrived as the knee-scarred midfielder with hopes of reaching the incredible expectations put on him as a youngster. It hasn’t played out like that. He’s had solid seasons with the Hawks, but never reached that maximum potential.
He is brave, he wins his own ball, he’s a good clearance player and disposals are accrued on the inside and outside. But can you be an elite player with such average kicking skills?
On Sunday against Fremantle he went at 30 per cent by foot. His season average is 51 per cent, which is below average for all midfielders. Last year he went 49 per cent. The year before that he went 61 per cent. So what’s happened? Is it about where he wins it, in congestion, which means he’s under heat? Is it about the decisions he makes? Or is he careful enough with the pill?
That said, even when he wins the ball on the outside, with less pressure, his kicking efficiency is still rated below average. Just maybe he’s biting off more than he can chew with his execution. He has to get better.
4 WE WON’T SAY GREEN SHOOTS, BUT …
Let’s chill on the bashing of the Crows. They are in wretched position, but their plan is in place. Sacked Carlton coach Brendon Bolton loved to talk about green shoots and although it became repetitive and a joke meme at times, being positive is sometimes all you’ve got.
OK, the Crows might not win a game this season but that’s not the biggest issue in front of them. They need to build a list team and even the most angry of Crows fans can see, well, some green shoots.
Like, Elliott Himmelberg took five marks of which three were contested against Collingwood. Lachlan Sholl had 16 disposals in his second game and used it well. There’s Harry Schoenberg, 19, who is being used as centre-bounce midfielder in just his second game.
There’s Andrew McPherson. He’s 21 and played his 15th game. There’s pain now and immediately ahead, but growth is there.
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